Hannibal Death Battles
by Hannibal-Necromancer97
Summary: Screw Attack may get to show the more interesting battles, but there are still match-ups they don't touch upon. I feel it my obligation to remedy this, as so many have before me. In this series, which will be updated Mondays when material is available, I will compare the techniques, weapons, armor, and so-on to find out who would win an old-fashioned battle to the death.
1. Ruby Rose Speeds into a Death Battle

Summer Rose, baker of cookies and slayer of evil monsters, was essentially supermom to our first fighter and her sister. Little is known canonically about her other than she was killed during a mission without her team. But not before giving birth to Ruby Rose.

 _"I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day…"_

 **Ruby Rose**  
Age: 15  
Second-year Beacon Academy student  
Family: Summer Rose (deceased mother), Taiyang Xiao Long (father), Yang Xiao Long (step-sister)  
Favorite Food: Strawberries

Raised on the island of Patch alongside/by her sister Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's history is… not often given. Up to this point in time, we know that when she and Yang were little, they received news of their mother's death. Ruby, being too incredibly young to fully understand what was going on at the time, still was torn up by Summer's passing. Her father simply shut down, leaving Yang to do the heavy lifting in raising her baby sister, which included stories of their mother and father's profession: Hunters.

After a long road learning from the Basic School of Xiao Long, Ruby was admitted into Signal Academy for Hunters and Huntresses (more commonly known as just "Signal"). Learning under her uncle, the not-unheard-of Professor Qrow, she forged her weapon Crescent Rose, and learned to wield it on the battlefield.

 _"No more awkward small talk or 'getting-to-know-you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."_

 **HCSS Crescent Rose  
** "High-caliber sniper-scythe"  
Melee, ranged  
Pros: High damage, mixed range capability  
Cons: Massive recoil, projectiles in limited quantity, highly specialized and dangerous

Ruby is never without her sniper-scythe. Ever. Crescent Rose fits in among the most dangerous weapons in the RWBYverse, and comes in three modes:

By folding completely up, Crescent Rose can be easily carried on Ruby's beltline in its compact, harmless storage mode.

From there, it can unfold into a mid-range, high-power sniper rifle; this mode allows its user to fire semi-automatically, but sacrifices long range accuracy and, apparently, stopping power. Its magazines carry roughly 30 rounds of ammunition before having to reload, which is hardly a problem since she seems to pull the spare ammo out of nowhere.

Finally, Crescent Rose's most powerful mode takes the shape of a scythe almost three times as large as Ruby herself; this monster cuts through wood, stone, and Grimm like they were all made of paper; while in scythe-mode, the sniper-scythe offers Ruby its highest damage-per-bullet at the cost of intense recoil. Ruby, however, has a workaround for this: by firing the rifle in-time with her swinging, she is able to dramatically increase the force of her attacks with the scythe's business end, as well as use it to quickly dodge most foes without a scratch - by firing straight into the ground she can launch approximately ten-to-twenty meters into the air, based on certain conditions. Alternatively, she can increase her effective accuracy by driving the bladed end of her scythe into the ground in front of her, which also reduces recoil to nearly zero.

The fact that a person of Ruby's stature can even hold Crescent Rose without intense physical training - let alone wield it efficiently - states that it must be made of lightweight materials. Currently, the highest strength-to-density ratio in earth metals belongs to Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30, a high-entropy alloy as strong as titanium with the approximate weight of aluminum. Being made of this material would make Crescent Rose one of the most resilient, powerful weapons on Remnant. However, as Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30 would be fairly expensive for even a combat school to obtain, and this is a fantasy universe, it's probably more likely composed of a fictional metal exclusive to the RWBYverse and Remnant.

What we know, though, is that Crescent Rose is durable, powerful, and pretty fucking badass, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Look out for the full summary when Ruby squares off against Maka Albarn in the first ever Hannibal Death Battle!

 _"Watch it, or I'll take your pony soul."_


	2. Maka Albarn Resonates to a Death Battle

_"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."_

The Death Weapon Meister Academy in Death City, more commonly referred to as the DWMA, is the most prestigious school of weapon masters in Soul Eater. At its head sits Shinigami-sama, Lord Death himself. Students at this school learn math, biology, Kishin hunting, and literature. Guess which one we'll be focusing on.

The meisters that attend this academy hunt Kishin - creatures of great evil that aim to become more powerful by consuming human souls - in hopes of creating a Death Scythe. Thus, our contender: Maka Albarn.

 _"I refuse to let my fear control me anymore!"_

 **Maka Albarn  
** Age: 13  
Two-Star DWMA Meister  
Family: Spirit Albarn (father), unnamed mother  
Favorite book: _Dark Side of the Moon_ by Lorda Donsany

Maka was born to Spirit Albarn when he was 18 years old (Her mother's name is never revealed. Trust me, I've looked.) She and he had issues, to say the least, as Spirit constantly cheated on his wife, who eventually divorced him. Maka would all but ignore her father on a regular basis, and he'd try and make things right with her with empty promises on more than one occasion.

I digress. As soon as she was old enough to understand what a meister was, and found out her mother was one of the best in her class, Maka wanted to be just like her. Step 1: Get a huge sickle to swing around.

 _"We have to work together here! Don't you want to become a Death Scythe?"_

 **Soul Eater**  
"The Demon Scythe"  
Melee  
Pros: Powerful and maneuverable  
Cons: Limited range, "maneuverable" doesn't mean "lightweight"

 **Soul "Eater" Evans**  
Age: mid-teens  
DWMA Death Weapon  
Family: unnamed grandmother, Wes Evans (brother)  
Can play the piano

Maka doesn't simply wield Soul in battle. It's more accurate to say they use their combined strength to overtake foes (primarily Kishin) and cut out their souls. As his nickname suggests, once he and Maka have successfully slain a Kishin, he consumes its soul. This is the ultimate goal for all Death Weapons; to work with a meister to gather 99 Kishin egg souls and one witch soul, in that order. Completing this overarching task will transform the weapon - Soul, in this case - into a Death Scythe powerful enough to be used by Lord Death. Of course, failing in acquiring the crucial witch's soul will require the team to relinquish the 99 souls they obtained prior to this, forcing them to start all over again.

Soul's combat capability isn't limited to being a weapon. While in his human form, he is able to morph parts of his body (primarily his arm) into scythe blades. He can then use said blades to do exactly what you'd expect he'd do with a blade. He will only resort to this if Maka is incapacitated or he is found alone in a fight, as he has no formal hand-to-hand training to speak of.

We've only scratched the surface of what these two are capable of. Find out what special tricks and techniques these two have in store when they fight Ruby Rose in the first ever Hannibal Death Battle!

 _"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be DELICIOUS!"_


	3. Maka VS Ruby

If you can imagine a world without scythe-swinging little girls, then I envy you for doing the impossible. The scythe is one of the heaviest, strongest, most badass means of ripping your opponent to bloody ribbons, and I think we can agree that these two high school girls use them to their fullest extent:

Ruby Rose, the crimson speedster and leader of Team RWBY,

And Maka Albarn, the not-quite-sole soul reaper of Soul Eater.

My name is Hannibal, and I feel it my duty to test their metal and mettle to find out who would win the first-ever Hannibal Death Battle.

 ***Warning*** The following contains spoilers to Soul Eater and RWBY. Read at own discretion.

/-/

Summer Rose, baker of cookies and slayer of evil monsters, was essentially supermom to our first fighter and her sister. Little is known canonically about her other than she was killed during a mission without her team. But not before giving birth to Ruby Rose.

 _"I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day…"_

 **Ruby Rose**  
Age: 15  
Second-year Beacon Academy student  
Family: Summer Rose (deceased mother), Taiyang Xiao Long (father), Yang Xiao Long (step-sister)  
Favorite Food: Strawberries

Raised on the island of Patch alongside/by her sister Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's history is… not often given. Up to this point in time, we know that when she and Yang were little, they received news of their mother's death. Ruby, being too incredibly young to fully understand what was going on at the time, still was torn up by Summer's passing. Her father simply shut down, leaving Yang to do the heavy lifting in raising her baby sister, which included stories of their mother and father's profession: Hunters.

After a long road learning from the Basic School of Xiao Long, Ruby was admitted into Signal Academy for Hunters and Huntresses (more commonly known as just "Signal"). Learning under her uncle, the not-unheard-of Professor Qrow, she forged her weapon Crescent Rose, and learned to wield it on the battlefield.

 _"No more awkward small talk or 'getting-to-know-you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."_

 **HCSS Crescent Rose  
** "High-caliber sniper-scythe"  
Melee, ranged  
Pros: High damage, mixed range capability  
Cons: Massive recoil, projectiles in limited quantity, highly specialized and dangerous

Ruby is never without her sniper-scythe. Ever. Crescent Rose fits in among the most dangerous weapons in the RWBYverse, and comes in three modes:

By folding completely up, Crescent Rose can be easily carried on Ruby's beltline in its compact, harmless storage mode.

From there, it can unfold into a mid-range, high-power sniper rifle; this mode allows its user to fire semi-automatically, but sacrifices long range accuracy and, apparently, stopping power. Its magazines carry roughly 30 rounds of ammunition before having to reload, which is hardly a problem since she seems to pull the spare ammo out of nowhere.

Finally, Crescent Rose's most powerful mode takes the shape of a scythe almost three times as large as Ruby herself; this monster cuts through wood, stone, and Grimm like they were all made of paper; while in scythe-mode, the sniper-scythe offers Ruby its highest damage-per-bullet at the cost of intense recoil. Ruby, however, has a workaround for this: by firing the rifle in-time with her swinging, she is able to dramatically increase the force of her attacks with the scythe's business end, as well as use it to quickly dodge most foes without a scratch - by firing straight into the ground she can launch approximately ten-to-twenty meters into the air, based on certain conditions. Alternatively, she can increase her effective accuracy by driving the bladed end of her scythe into the ground in front of her, which also reduces recoil to nearly zero.

The fact that a person of Ruby's stature can even hold Crescent Rose without intense physical training - let alone wield it efficiently - states that it must be made of lightweight materials. Currently, the highest strength-to-density ratio in earth metals belongs to Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30, a high-entropy alloy as strong as titanium with the approximate weight of aluminum. Being made of this material would make Crescent Rose one of the most resilient, powerful weapons on Remnant. However, as Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30 would be fairly expensive for even a combat school to obtain, and this is a fantasy universe, it's probably more likely composed of a fictional metal exclusive to the RWBYverse and Remnant; and since the scythe is mechanical in nature, it isn't perfect and can likely be broken if enough force is exerted upon it.

Speaking of fictional things exclusive to the RWBYverse and Remnant, who would've guessed that I left some information out of the basic overview? In case you've been living under a rock forever and somehow got a hold of a computer, here's what I'm talking about.

 **Aura** : _n._ In RWBY, a protective force surrounding all sapient life on Remnant.

 _"It's like a force field!"_

As with all humans (and faunus), Ruby is surrounded by an extension of her soul called an aura. The strength of one's aura varies from person to person but, on average, it is capable of almost negating minor attacks and healing injuries in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Ruby, incidentally, isn't remarkable when it comes to this. Like most Huntresses, though, she has learned to channel her aura through her weapon, dramatically increasing its durability.

Aura, however, typically comes from a limited pool and must be built up over time. Students at Beacon will, while sparring, have a special program on their phones - referred to as "scrolls" - that gives a simplified gauge of how much they have left. A Hunter with a lot of aura saved will usually take the offensive, then switch to defense when it is nearly depleted.

In addition, everything that has an aura has a special talent tied to it called a semblance. This semblance, be it force absorption, teleportation, or manipulation of matter, greatly influences a Hunter's fighting style. Overuse of the skill, however, can leave the user drained at best, depending on the person.

 **Semblance**  
Wild Card  
Speed, in this case  
Unique to an individual

In Ruby's case, her semblance allows her to move at superhuman speeds, much faster than the eye can comprehend, leaving only a flurry of rose petals where she used to be and giving the appearance of almost teleportation.

Things at high speeds have been consistently shown to experience time more slowly; a clock in orbit will desynchronize from its sibling on the ground, simply by moving faster. If Ruby is able to achieve speeds close to light, it's possible she perceives the world as moving much slower, allowing her to study a given situation.

 **Traits**  
Tends to gush over exotic weapons  
Doesn't like to study  
Hopelessly optimistic  
Can get carried away/overzealous  
 _"Not a fancy-pantsey… dancey girl."_

…What? You thought I was serious about her studying her opponent? She hardly studies at all without her de facto second-in-command Weiss telling her to.

Watching the way she behaves, Ruby is fairly social despite almost preferring weapons to human (and faunus) interaction. She has a number of friends, many of which are currently still attending Signal, and the ones she has at Beacon range from quiet bookworms to a hyperactive berserker.

A major theme of the series seems to be teamwork, which is fitting when you consider all that it's allowed Ruby to accomplish, albeit mostly with help.

 **Feats** (to name a few)  
Defeated a horde of Beowulves single-handedly (pending confirmation)  
Began studying at Beacon two years early  
Rode then killed a Nevermore (had help from Weiss, then from full team)  
Defeated Team JNPR in a food fight (had help from full team)  
Suppressed the Grimm Breach (had help from whole academy + military)

But, that's just one half of the coin, as she has a near equal number of failures under her belt.

 **Failures** (to name a few)  
Couldn't stop Roman getting away twice  
Nearly died to a Deathstalker and aforementioned Nevermore  
Constantly loses to/ties against Cinder Fall  
Couldn't prevent the Grimm Breach  
Hasn't beaten Yang once in Remnant: the Game

 _"What was that? That should have been easy!"_

Granted, these failures are mostly due to her trying to prove herself to her team. Still, they almost all dictate a major deciding factor for Ruby's part in the fight: her own kind heart. Ruby, as long as she has had screen time, has never had a fit out of anger or the intention to kill humanoid targets. Even when her own life is on the line, she only ever hits humans and White Fang with the back of her scythe to stun them. Whether this is her own morals or Yang's teaching from Patch Island is unknown. Whatever the case, it may be her undoing in the coming future if she refuses to finish her target. Say, a few paragraphs from now for instance.

/-/

 _"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."_

The Death Weapon Meister Academy in Death City, more commonly referred to as the DWMA, is the most prestigious school of weapon masters in Soul Eater. At its head sits Shinigami-sama, Lord Death himself. Students at this school learn math, biology, Kishin hunting, and literature. Guess which one we'll be focusing on.

The meisters that attend this academy hunt Kishin - creatures of great evil that aim to become more powerful by consuming human souls - in hopes of creating a Death Scythe. Thus, our contender: Maka Albarn.

 _"I refuse to let my fear control me anymore!"_

 **Maka Albarn  
** Age: 13  
Two-Star DWMA Meister  
Family: Spirit Albarn (father), unnamed mother  
Favorite book: _Dark Side of the Moon_ by Lorda Donsany

Maka was born to Spirit Albarn when he was 18 years old (Her mother's name is never revealed. Trust me, I've looked.) She and he had issues, to say the least, as Spirit constantly cheated on his wife, who eventually divorced him. Maka would all but ignore her father on a regular basis, and he'd try and make things right with her with empty promises on more than one occasion.

I digress. As soon as she was old enough to understand what a meister was, and found out her mother was one of the best in her class, Maka wanted to be just like her. Step 1: Get a huge sickle to swing around.

 _"We have to work together here! Don't you want to become a Death Scythe?"_

 **Soul Eater**  
"The Demon Scythe"  
Melee  
Pros: Powerful and maneuverable  
Cons: Limited range, "maneuverable" doesn't mean "lightweight"

 **Soul "Eater" Evans**  
Age: mid-teens  
DWMA Death Weapon  
Family: unnamed grandmother, Wes Evans (brother)  
Can play the piano

Maka doesn't simply wield Soul in battle. It's more accurate to say they use their combined strength to overtake foes (primarily Kishin) and cut out their souls. As his nickname suggests, once he and Maka have successfully slain a Kishin, he consumes its soul. This is the ultimate goal for all Death Weapons; to work with a meister to gather 99 Kishin egg souls and one witch soul, in that order. Completing this overarching task will transform the weapon - Soul, in this case - into a Death Scythe powerful enough to be used by Lord Death. Of course, failing in acquiring the crucial witch's soul will require the team to relinquish the 99 souls they obtained prior to this, forcing them to start all over again.

Soul's combat capability isn't limited to being a weapon. While in his human form, he is able to morph parts of his body (primarily his arm) into scythe blades. He can then use said blades to do exactly what you'd expect he'd do with a blade. He will only resort to this if Maka is incapacitated or he is found alone in a fight, as he has no formal hand-to-hand training to speak of.

While in battle, a weapon-meister team must act as a unit to effectively surmount Kishin and witches. Since it's not enough for a scythe master to simply swing her weapon to-and-fro, Maka and Soul (as with all weapon-meister teams) can undergo a process that synchronizes their souls, attuning them to one another to increase their already deadly efficiency.

 _"Let's go! Soul Resonance!"_

 **Soul Resonance**  
Pros:  
-Dramatically increases power  
-Many special attacks stem from this  
Cons:  
-Takes time to power up  
-Telegraphed by typical shout

Resonance is the basic art for all meisters and weapons from which most special attacks are performed. During this state of being, a weapon-meister team - Maka and Soul in this case - harmonize their soul wavelengths. To those that can see souls, resonance takes the form of the two souls becoming one large one surrounding the body of the pair (trio in rare cases).

 **Soul Perception**  
Ability to see souls  
Only a handful of beings have this sense  
Examples: Maka Albarn, Lord Death, Franken Stein

A number of people in the Soul Eater universe have the ability to see or sense souls and their wavelengths. The biology to explain it is unclear, but the simple version states that a human (usually a meister) focuses a sort of sixth sense to pick up a representation of soul wavelengths, which is translated to light or sound for the brain to comprehend. This allows them to effectively and efficiently hunt Kishin and witches, or see a human soul to better understand the person.

Moving back, soul resonance can be perceived by these special few people, and physically manifests into a number of utilities. For Maka, this allows her to generate a simple barrier to defend with or one of three ultimate attacks known as Hunt-Slashes.

 _"The legendary skill of the scythe meister: Witch Hunter!"_

 **Hunt-Slash Techniques**  
Exclusive to scythe-meisters  
Three major variants

 **Witch Hunt-Slash** (FUNimation "Witch Hunter")  
Crescent blade  
Capacity to kill witches and injure evil immortals

 **Devil Hunt-Slash** (FUNimation "Genie Hunter")  
L-shape blade  
Capacity to kill witches and evil immortals  
Longer effective range than Witch Hunt-Slash  
Utilizes Anti-Demon Wavelength

 **Kishin Hunt-Slash** (FUNimation "Kishin Hunter")  
Jagged-crescent blade  
Capacity to kill witches and evil immortals, and injure complete Kishin  
Utilizes Anti-Demon Wavelength

Hunt-Slash techniques are devastatingly powerful attacks meant specifically for killing evil, and come in three flavors.

Witch Hunt-Slash is the basic skill. During this resonance, Soul's blade expands and extends into a large glowing crescent-shape, giving it an appearance mimicking the moon the first time (and then never again). The blade is powerful enough in this state to kill witches in a single strike, depending on the witch.

Devil Hunt-Slash is the next tier up, morphing the blade of Soul's weapon form into a large capital L. The Witch Hunter may have been capable of digging up graveyard dirt, but the Genie Hunter is able to slice clean through stone without even touching it! Its power is capable of one-shotting any witch regardless of prior difficulty, but has been shown not to affect non-evil beings.

Finally, the Kishin Hunt-Slash takes the form of a massive jagged crescent, formed of good to eradicate all evil. Witches? Dead. Evil immortals? See ya. Complete Kishin? …Well, about that… Although the Kishin Hunt-Slash was meant specifically for the one complete Kishin currently in existence, it didn't do anything to him.

Allow me to explain. The Genie and Kishin Hunters draw on a special part of Maka's wavelength: the Anti-Demon Wavelength. This is what makes them the ultimate in slaying evil. That having been said, the wavelength _only affects evil beings._ That complete Kishin I mentioned last paragraph or so - Asura - wasn't affected by Maka's Kishin Hunter because, quote, "(He is) the physical manifestation of madness, which is not inherently evil as all people have it." This glaring flaw in the Hunt-Slash's design renders it useless against even the very Kishin it was meant to destroy, and will be of no use against Maka's opponent today if she decides to use it.

Before any of you try to claim otherwise about the Anti-Demon Wavelength, the most solid piece of evidence for its one major flaw comes from Maka's final fight with the witch Medusa. When Medusa possessed a little girl for a proxy body, Maka's Genie Hunter only severed her soul, bringing no harm to the little girl and slicing through a giant block of stone on the far side of the room. The girl momentarily lost consciousness, but was fine otherwise.

 **Weapon Blood  
** Wild Card  
Increased solo capability  
Can only be accessed while unconscious

Finally, Maka has one technique she saves as a final resolve. Being half-weapon allows her to tap into an arsenal of blades when in a pinch. While utilizing these blades, Maka's attacks become more instinctive, bordering on primal. This is because she must remain unconscious and allow her... blood... to take control. (Give me some credit, I rewatched Soul Eater to gather this information.) As we only see this skill used once, it's hard to say what allows her to trigger it, or whether she is able to manually take back control. We can safely assume, though, that this is her most powerful non-Resonance technique.

 **Traits**  
Tends to lose her cool  
Likes to read and study  
Confident in her abilities  
Will try absolutely everything before unveiling her trump card  
 _"You men. All of you, you're horrible. . . I wish that all of you would just die!"_

Maka is a generally level-headed individual when around other students, but will have outbursts when dealing with certain subjects. Moreover, she has shown a noticable level of apathy toward men in particular due to her father's dishonesty, varying in intensity depending on the individual in question. This has not affected her studies, something she revels in and indulges as often as possible.

One thing that stands out and will be a deciding factor in Maka's part of the fight is her unwillingness to fight full-force. She will utilize every tool at her disposal until something works against her current foe. For example, during her battle with Professor Stein, she refused to use her Witch Hunt-Slash until absolutely necessary because it didn't work well against Sid, earning her a disadvantage early on. She then proceeded to lose the fight, but passed the remedial lesson when Soul jumped to protect her.

 **Feats** (To name a few)  
Made Soul into a Death Scythe  
Got top score on the DWMA aptitude test  
Is currently the youngest meister in DWMA history to use all three Hunt-Slash techniques  
Eventually defeated Asura

Despite her shortcomings, Maka has shown time and again that she is the best the DWMA has to offer, having managed to defeat Asura and create a Death Scythe at the ripe old age of 13 (Outlined above). This has earned her the highest regards of her fellow two-star meisters and even Lord Death himself. However, this doesn't mean she is the perfect meister.

 **Failures** (to name a few)  
Failed initially to obtain a witch soul  
Lost to Crona in their first fight  
Was ultimately responsible for Arachne's return  
Could not prevent Asura from being awakened

Maka has been at least partially responsible for an uncertain number of the DWMA's problems, despite being the paragon of her class. She is constantly reprimanded, albeit mostly indirectly, for her violent behavior towards her fellow students (when, of course, she isn't calm), and has been given remedial assignments on more than one occasion (That sound you hear? That's Maka cringing at the term "remedial assignment,") even though her test scores are the highest in the school. Whether these responses affect her efficiency on the battlefield or not has yet to be determined, but I'm willing to say they make her more efficient, if anything. I suppose we'll see in... oh... one paragraph?

/-/

Alright, the combatants are set. It's time to determine who the better scythe master is. In the words of the great Screw Attack announcer Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE!

/-/

Ozpin cleared his throat, silencing the auditorium's hushed murmurs. "I would first like to thank the DWMA for hosting this tournament. It is an honor for us from Beacon to be able to stand here today, for the entertainment and enlightenment of Headmaster Death and his academy."

Lord Death stood, casually waving. "It's no big deal; our school doesn't have such activities, so I wanted to allow my students a chance to see how our friends at Beacon do things. Really, we should be honored by your presence, Professor Ozpin. But, before we begin the tournament, I have one request." He beckoned a student of his to the center stage: a young girl with a large black-and-red scythe. "Not really a request of mine, but rather one of my star pupil, Maka Albarn's."

Maka bowed. "I'd like to fight one of your students, Professor Ozpin, to open the tournament."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Attention, students of Beacon: any of you who wish to face Miss Albarn in single combat, please come down to the stage."

Nobody immediately stood, but there was a small commotion to the side. _"I can't fight her. . . No, I'm not scared! . . . Ugh, why bring_ _that_ _up? . . . Oh fine! I'll do it."_ Another young girl, not much older than Maka walked onto the stage. She wore a black corset and short dress, with black stockings and boots, and a bold red hooded cape with the hood down. "Hi," she said nervously, "I'm Ruby. I, uh, guess I'm gonna fight you."

Maka looked confused. "Fight me with what?"

Ruby unhooked a mechanism from her back. "Crescent Rose."

"A gun?"

She shrugged. "Kind of."

Meanwhile, Lord Death had just finished whispering something to Ozpin, who begrudgingly nodded with a sip of coffee. "At the behest of our host," he said, "this battle will be... to the death."

Both girls looked incredulously at the Reaper. "Come now, Maka," he said nonchalantly, "You've fought plenty stronger foes in the past; I'm confident you can defeat one small girl."

"As much as it pains me," Ozpin spoke again, "I have to agree, Miss Rose. The enemies you've faced thus far have had every intention to kill you. You've not backed down then and now should be no different."

The girls looked at each other nervously and nodded, taking spots at opposite ends of the stage. Several shouts from the audience attempted to encourage them. "You've got this, Rubes!" "Kick her ass, Maka!"

"The tournament will open with Ruby Rose of Beacon vs Maka Albarn of the DWMA, ad mortem."

 **/-FIGHT!-/**

Maka made the first move, lunging with her scythe at the contender. Reflexively, Ruby jumped into high speed, and everything around her slowed down as she began to panic. _Ohgodohgodohgod! 'Fight to the death'? Why did Ozpin agree to that?!_ She looked around, noticing a severe lack of tall, blonde, and scraggly. _Huh,_ she thought, her mind changing the subject, _Jaune's not here? Oh, right, he's fighting in the first bracket. I wonder who his opponent is?_ She took out her scroll, snapped a picture of a terrified her in front of an oncoming Maka, and sent it to Jaune with a message: 'N a battle 2 th death. Ozpin's tryn 2 kill me. Who r u gunna fight?'

Ruby felt something graze her shoulder. She looked up from her scroll, finding her opponent bearing down on her. "Ah! Fight to the death!" She rolled out of the way, defensively reaching for Crescent Rose.

/-/

Maka swung as her target disappeared in a rose petal flurry. "What...?"

 _"That's not possible,"_ she heard Soul say as he looked around, _"She was just here. I felt her just a second ago!"_

"Your scythe can talk?" Maka turned around, finding Ruby standing there in awe. "That's so cool! You've gotta tell me where you get your weapons made!"

"We don't 'get our weapons made' and we don't 'gotta' tell you anything. We're fighting!" She lunged again, earning another miss as Ruby exploded into petals again.

Ruby gave her a sad look from a few feet to the left. "C'mon. Pleeeease?" Another swing, and another miss. Ruby reappeared on the right this time. "Fine, fine, school secret or something. I get it."

"Stay still, damn it!"

"But aren't we fighting?"

"Yes!" Maka sighed. "Look, at least draw your weapon so cutting you open is something I earn and not just get to do."

"Alright, calm down princess." A chorus of chuckles came from the audience at Ruby's remark. She pulled the device off her back. "Showtime, sweetheart."

The red square unfolded slightly, now more noticably a weapon. "That's a little better," Maka breathed.

"No," Ruby grunted slapping the side of her weapon, "something's stuck." More laughter from DWMA students as the Beacon girl fiddled with her weapon. Maka almost gave the headmasters a look of skepticism when she heard a click. She turned back as Ruby's rifle began to extend to twice the length of her body. She twirled it around her person as a large crescent blade unfolded from the end, coming to rest just behind her. "Got it!"

The Beacon students roared with applause. Maka stood dumbfounded at the physics of such a device until Soul spoke again. _"Don't worry; we've got this. We didn't go through all that training for fun, did we?"_

Maka nodded, taking a breath before addressing her opponent. "So, you're a scythe-user too?"

"Yup. I made Crescent Rose myself. Isn't she adorable?" Ruby then began to coddle her scythe as though it was a small child, earning more laughter from the DWMA students.

"Grr, would you stop already?!" The Beacon second-year stopped. "You're making a mockery of martial combat!"

"Would you say it's a 'Maka-ry'?" Another student from Beacon called, her bright blonde hair visible from space. No one laughed.

"Yang, sit down!" Ruby called back. She turned again to Maka, who had taken the opportunity to lunge at her opponent. With an "Eep!", Ruby vanished again into rose petals, reappearing on the far edge of the platform. "You were gonna sucker punch me?!"

"Something like that," Maka replied, throwing Ruby's words back at her.

Solemnly, the crimson speedster pulled her hood up. "Oh, it's _on."_

Ruby took the offensive, jumping from zero to 100 with a backward blast of her sniper-scythe and nearly catching Maka off guard. Maka threw up a barrier to counter, pushing what she could spare against the surprise attack. _"Damn she's fast!"_ Soul swore as their opponent rushed by. Maka blocked the attacks she could and dodged what she couldn't as Ruby attacked from all angles. _"We need to push her back!"_

"How -... do you suppose we -... do that?" Maka grunted. The girl seemed to have no limit in momentum, which kept changing and changing with each shot.

 _"We may have to tear up the auditorium. Smack her away so we can resonate!"_

"On it!" On Ruby's next attack, Maka curled her free hand into a fist, catching the streak of red on the bridge of her nose and effectively clotheslining her to the ground. "Now!"

 _"Let's go! Soul Resonance!"_

/-/

Ruby climbed off the ground in a slight daze. Her nose was bruised, but her aura was already working on that. _"Let's go! Soul Resonance!"_ She heard her opponent and her weapon say in unison before waves of power began to come off of them. She figured she'd use the time to reload and flip Crescent Rose into rifle mode.

She fired three shots, each bursting about two feet before their intended target. "No, no, no!" Flipping the device into it's scythe mode, she drove the blade into the ground to fire three more shots, which impacted one-and-a-half foot from their mark. "Please don't be something bad," she hoped repeatedly, "Please don't be something bad..."

Maka closed the distance, much faster than normal, as Ruby swung to parry. Mid-block, Ruby fired into the air to bring the blunt side of her scythe down on her target, who blocked it effortlessly. The two locked weapons in a struggle for dominance that Maka was clearly winning. _I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie!_ Ruby thought, jumping back into high speed to retreat. She hopped about three yards away before returning to real time for a followup attack.

/-/

Ruby disappeared again, causing Maka to bring Soul's blade to ground. She threw up another barrier to block the inevitable counterattack. "This isn't working," Maka said. "She's just too fast."

 _"We're_ _not_ _giving up, Maka!"_

She smirked. "Who said anything about giving up?" She pulsed the barrier, pushing Ruby back onto her backside as she and Soul began to resonate again. Maka released Soul from the floor as his blade expanded, glowing white-blue.

Ruby squeaked in fear. "What is that?!"

"The legendary skill of the scythe-meister," Maka answered, melodramatically bringing the massive blade around. "Witch Hunter!"

"I'm not a witch, though!" Ruby protested, dodging out of the way of the giant crescent. Said crescent dug through the floor, circling to her new position. "Aah!"

"U-Shape Hunter!"

Several metal clashes ring out from the platform as Maka's blade meets Ruby's, each attempting to land a hit. Maka, finally pushing past her opponent's defense, impacts Ruby's side and knocks her almost to the edge of the stage. "...Is..." Maka panted, the exertion catching up to her, "is it over?"

Ruby stirred. She held her already bruising hip as she sat up. "Ow... I'm okay." She stood, grabbing Crescent rose as a crutch while she reached into her pocket. "Ohh, you broke my scroll."

Maka's mouth hung open as Witch Hunter dropped. "How are you still alive? A direct hit from that should have cut you open! ...What's that dress made of?"

"Uh, cotton? At least ninety percent." She caught her breath, standing erect. "We're still fighting, right?"

"Yes."

Maka took her stance, and Soul looked at her. "Can you get a read on her soul? Maybe it's a special wavelength our Hunt-Slashes can't cut through?"

"Well, it's worth a shot." Maka took a breath, looking straight on at her opponent.

Rather than the typical burning sphere, Ruby's soul looked more like an amoeba with the Beacon girl as the nucleus, stretching its membrane around her and her weapon. "Er..." Ruby said, "Why are you looking at me like that?" She was met with no response, Maka instead muttering to her scythe. "Look, it's not like you're weird or anything, I just got out of a relationship and you're kind of making me uncomfortable..."

The chuckles from the audience snapped Maka out of it. "What?"

Ruby groaned. "Never mind. We're fighting!"

She lunged instantly, catching Maka's hand as she attempted to block. Maka dropped Soul. _"Ow!"_

Maka winced, flexing the feeling back into her fingers. "Sorry...!" She rushed to grab the scythe, but Ruby blasted it with a round from Crescent Rose's burn mag.

 _"Ow! Son of a..."_ Soul flashed, morphing into a humanoid shape: a young man in a yellow jacket. He rubbed his shoulder. "Quit doing that, would ya?"

Ruby stopped, attempting to process what just happened. When it finally clicked, she almost vomited. "Your scythe turns into a person?" She let out an excited squeal. "You've gotta teach me how to do that!"

Maka helped Soul off the ground. "You alright?"

"I'll live. I'm not indestructible, remember?"

"Right. Come on, we can't stop the fight every five seconds while something happens."

Soul nodded. Before changing back, he noticed Ruby spraying words everywhere. "Is she gonna be okay?"

Maka looked, noting her condition. "If she is, she won't be for long."

Soul smiled, changing back into weapon form as Ruby finally calmed down. She paused, swinging around to Lord Death and Ozpin. "So wait, if they're two people, then how is this a fair fight?"

"Soul is a human weapon," Death explained. "On the battlefield, he relies on his partner to do most of the fighting. You are facing Maka and her skills in using a scythe. Besides, as I recall, isn't your Crescent Rose also a gun?"

"Please," Ozpin said, "continue."

Ruby sighed. "I guess you've made your point..." She turned to continue the fight.

 _"Let's go! Soul Resonance!"_

"Not again..." While they powered up, Ruby pondered how to infiltrate their two-foot shield. An idea finally struck, prompting her to change her magazine from burn to force. "If I can't burn your armor," she cocked her scythe, "I'll punch right through it!" She drove the blade once more into the stage, lining up a shot. Force ammo wouldn't take Maka out of the fight, but it would at least buy a few seconds.

/-/

 _"Maka,"_ Soul said worriedly, _"She's pointing that thing right at me."_

"Don't be such a baby," Maka replied, "She can't get through our -" Ruby fired, and a slug hit their field like a truck. Maka reeled, and their resonance ceased. "W-What was that?"

Another shot hit Soul's blade, ripping him from Maka's grip and sending him flying. _"Ow!"_

"Soul!" Maka began to fetch him as one more shot slammed into her head, concussing her and sending her to the ground.

 _"Maka!"_ Soul changed back, rushing to his unconscious partner's side. "Maka, you need to get up!"

Something large and metallic wrapped around Soul's back. He looked up as Ruby removed her hood. "...I'm sorry..." she whispered, yanking the scythe with added recoil momentum. Soul fell dead to the floor.

/-/

Ruby vomited to the side. She'd just killed someone - possibly the most interesting person she'd ever meet. She was nauseous, and her hands were shaking. She held Crescent Rose close for comfort. These were the rules. She was just fighting by Lord Death's rules. She kept drilling the idea into her brain until her heartbeat steadied. She had to finish this.

She turned around, and there stood Maka. Weird, seeing as she was supposed to be unconscious. It wasn't until Ruby noticed the maybe four blades protruding from her that she began to panic, firing rounds at her from a safe distance into Maka's head. "Gotosleepgotosleepgotosleep. . ." she repeated. Her opponent attempted to block one round, but was sent spiraling before six more hit her ribs, collar, leg, and head, fracturing each. The pain was obviously too great, as Maka let out a cry of pain. Her blades retracted. Ruby folded Crescent Rose back into rifle mode as she approached, changing magazines to something a little more lethal. She took aim, looked away, and fired.

It was over.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Ozpin announced, "the victor is Ruby Rose." Everyone applauded as Ruby sunk to her knees. the rest of Team RWBY helped her down as she wept tiredly. "My condolences, Lord Death."

"We lose students every day," the Reaper said seriously. "Still, it's a shame to lose one of the best."

 **/-KO!-/**

I hope you all enjoyed the fight and -... Oh, wait... I still have to do a recap.

 **Maka Strengths**  
-More experienced  
-More relentless  
-Superior strength  
 **Weaknesses**  
-No natural armor  
-Not nearly as fast  
-Limited to close range

 **Ruby Strengths**  
-Faster  
-More versatile on the battlefield  
-Aura is natural armor  
 **Weaknesses**  
-Less durable  
-Less powerful  
-Almost too nice

Maka definitely had more combat experience, I think we can all agree on that, and her defense was nearly impenetrable. But coming from a world where humans have no natural shield was a severe disadvantage to her. She had to consciously materialize a barrier to block with, putting strain on her wavelength. Ruby's aura is always active as her defense, and while she would have gone through a similar strain with her semblance, it wouldn't have set in for several hours of continued use.

Maka's strength may clearly have surpassed Ruby's, but Ruby's speed was on a whole other level, brinking on supernatural. And even though resonance helped in the defensive and offensive departments, it's only temporary. Witch Hunter, as we know it, is capable of harming non-evil beings; however, again, Ruby was able to damp it with her aura. Hell, she's taken hits from Grimm far bigger than Maka!

Ruby, when able, can keep her target at a distance with Crescent Rose's sniper rifle function. Maka is limited by the radius of her swing. If she could have kept the distance closed, Maka could have worn down Ruby's defense to take victory for herself.

She had one shot, and lost. The winner is Ruby Rose.

/-/

(I can do it now? . . . Okay.) I hope you all enjoyed the fight, cause it took a whole month to write. If you have suggestions for fights, I've decided to speed the process along with a poll you can find on my profile after this and every even numbered fight. Reviews are much appreciated, thanks for reading, and be sure to catch ScrewAttack's DEATH BATTLE series on Youtube or other media.


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